A team of 7 divers travelled from the UK to spend 2 weeks diving the fantastic wrecks of Bikini Atol mainly using the KISS rebreather - http://www.jetsam.ca These are a few of the above water photos of the team and the facilities at Bikini.
Commissioned in 1927, an American aircraft carrier 880 feet in length and weighs 39,000 tons, it rests in Bikini's lagoon at a depth of 55m. Her bridge is easily accessible at 12m, her deck at 30m, and the hanger for the Helldivers at 40m. These Helldivers and bombs are still on display complete with all dials and controls. Fuel and ammunition loads during test BAKER were 10% of capacity and 67% capacity respectively. She was reported sunk by the Japanese seven times during World War II. She received seven battle stars. The USS Saratoga is the largest diveable vessel in the world, and the only aircraft carrier available for diving.
An American destroyer, 348 feet long, that received ten battle stars during World War II. She served as a carrier screen in the Coral Sea, Midway, the Solomons, Guadalcanal, and Tarawa. Always on the frontlines, she was with the Lexington CV-2 and the Yorktown CV-5 aircraft carriers when they were sunk in battle by the Japanese. She was also with the USS Wasp and the USS Hornet when they were sunk in WWII. In 1943, in Wotje Atoll in the Marshall Islands, she got hit with a 155mm shell that killed the captain and five officers and wounded another 18 men. She was at 95% of capacity of both fuel and ordnance when she was sunk by ABLE and is now at rest on her side in Bikini's lagoon at a depth of 55m.
The Japanese Flagship to the Japanese Navy, she was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's floating fortress during Japan's World War II attack on Pearl Harbor and was a treasure to the Japanese forces. The 32,720 ton battleship is at rest upside down in 55m of water; her bridge is accessible at 50m, the hull and monstrous props at 36m. Her dimensions were 725' long, 113' beam, 32' draught. Her full load displacement was 43,581 tons at full load and her maximum speed was 24.98 knots. She carried a crew of 1,368. Her main armament consisted of 8 x 16", 18 x 5.5" & 8 x 5".Fuel and ammo loads during both ABLE and BAKER tests were, respectively, 15% and 10% of capacity. She is upside down in the water and an incredible dive with her four massive screws appearing like an underwater Stonehenge.
With the wrecks in the Atoll resting on the seabed at 55m this is advanced diving. Furthermore the schedule plans for 2 dives a day, so a lot of the time underwater is spent on deco. On average we spent approximately 60mins deco per dive
Photos taken using a Nikonos V with 15mm Nikonos lens and Sea&Sea YS-60 strobe. Film used - Fujichrome Provia 400F 135 (RHP III)
